The little I know about my great-grandfather’s great-great-grandfather.
STRONG FAMILY
My two grandmothers were the daughters of R’ Leib Shapiro. The Shapiro family was one of the few families that remained firm in their Judaism and was not swept away by the current of “anything goes” that began over a hundred years ago. I heard it said that the Rebbe Rashab expressed esteem for the family, whose ten children were frum, both the boys and the girls.
I do not know my whole family tree, but I heard and read about R’ Leib Shapiro’s great-grandfather. His name was R’ Yeshaya Zuchavitzer. In the family, it was known that R’ Yeshaya was a tzaddik (in the book Shiurei R’ Yaakov Moshe Shurkin it says that the Gra allowed chillul Shabbos in order to receive a bracha (for a dangerously ill person) from the tzaddik R’ Yeshaya Zuchavitzer, as his prayers were guaranteed to help). I read in a book of stories of tzaddikim that he was known for his righteousness not only among Jews. The gentiles in the area treated him as a holy man to the point that they would hope that he would pass by their fields for this would cause a bountiful harvest.
In an ancient machzor, with numerous additions of translations, parables, musar, stories and more, I read an interesting story about R’ Yeshaya Zuchavitzer which demonstrates his unusual righteousness.
TORAH WAS HIS OCCUPATION
R’ Yeshaya was extremely poor. He sat in shul and learned day and night. His family lived in tremendous deprivation and barely eked out its existence from a tiny store that his wife ran. She was prepared, even satisfied, to bear the burden of parnasa; the main thing being that her great husband, the outstanding talmid chochom and tzaddik, sit and learn.
Yet, there were times that she had to ask her husband to do something for the family. That is, it was high time that their oldest daughter marry; their second daughter was also of age. It wasn’t only that there wasn’t a penny for a dowry; there wasn’t even money with which to buy a dress and decent shoes for the girls.
In situations like these, people who were destitute but were elevated b’nei Torah had to take up the wanderer’s staff and travel to the big city in order to find a way to earn some money. It was possible to earn a nice sum by teaching children of families of means. Sometimes, rabbanim and askanim would raise money for a distinguished Torah scholar.
R’ Yeshaya’s wife poured out her heart to her husband and gave him more than a hint. He had to do as those other men did because it was a tremendous pity on the girls. R’ Yeshaya appeased her with warm words that came from his heart, saying that surely Hashem would send proper matches for their daughters as well as the money that was needed. He, the father, would surely do whatever he could do.
SUDDEN JOURNEY
However, R’ Yeshaya could not tear himself away from his Torah study and avodas Hashem. Bittul Torah was no small thing! Apparently, he kept on postponing making the trip to the big city. But then one time, something happened which revived the hearts of R’ Yeshaya, his wife, and daughters. R’ Yeshaya asked his wife to prepare a bundle with some food for him (a few slices of bread with onion and a change of underclothes), since he wanted to go away for some time.
His wife happily prepared what he needed. He parted from his family and left the old tumbledown hut they lived in. He had no money with which to travel by horse and wagon. He walked and only occasionally did a passing wagon driver give him a lift.
A few weeks passed and R’ Yeshaya appeared at the entrance to their hovel with shining countenance. The faces of his wife and daughters also lit up for they assumed he had been successful, thank G-d, and had not returned empty-handed.
Their hearts trembled with joy when he told them that he had brought them a gift, which he would show them after they ate. What could the gift be if not money with which to marry off his daughter.
The family did not urge him to show them the present and waited patiently until after the meager meal his wife had prepared. After eating and before bentching, R’ Yeshaya rose and joyously said that it was time to tell them about the big present he had brought.
THE BIG PRESENT
“For a long time I have wondered whether the words ‘al yichasreinu’ in the bentching is the conclusion of the bracha, ‘HaKeil Avinu,’ and needs to be responded to with ‘amen,’ or whether the bracha continues further and you cannot answer ‘amen.’ There are opinions that this is the end of the bracha and others say it isn’t. It was very hard for me to decide the Halacha. It bothered me very much until I decided to speak to the gaon (the Vilna Gaon) of our times. I told him what I thought and wanted to hear his p’sak Halacha.
“I could not do this in writing and had to speak to him face to face. That is what I did. Boruch Hashem, I got a clear p’sak Halacha that ‘al yichasreinu’ is the conclusion of the bracha and ‘amen’ needs to be said. Do you realize what a gift this is?
“From now on, we will be able to respond with another ‘amen’ every time we bentch!”
We do not know the family’s reaction to this surprise gift that he brought. We can only use our imagination, but can you picture someone like R’ Yeshaya nowadays?
In the family they said that R’ Yeshaya blessed his children that Hashem would protect them for six generations from serving in the czar’s army (it seems that at the end of his life they began drafting Jews into the army) and so it was. Uncle Yaakov, my grandmother’s brother, was from a later generation and was drafted in World War I. Sadly, he did not return.